Wednesday, 22 June 2011

Metalfest 2011 (Switzerland, Germany, Austria)

Thursday (26.05.2011):

After meeting at our rehearsal room we loaded everything we needed for our short METALFEST-tour into our tour vehicle and started the engines towards Southern Germany. Late at night we arrived in Müllheim, where our hotel was located.

Friday (27.05.2011):

Getting up was just as hard as usual and after having an awesome breakfast we continued our journey with destination Pratteln, Switzerland. As we were not that good in time we only had some few minutes to prepare for the changeover and the soundcheck.

The following show on the open air stage was really great and surprisingly there were some people in front of the stage, although it was around 1.30 pm. That totally rocked and we had a great time on stage.

Afterwards we checked out the whole location, took some pictures and met some of our fans. Soon we got hungry and decided to look for the catering. A very friendly woman who was responsible for the food made us a fresh meal which was one of the tastiest we ever ate.

Filled up with that tasty food we packed in some good Swiss beer and walked to our tour van.

We really would have liked to stay a little longer and to watch some other bands but unfortunately time was short and a long journey lied ahead of us. So we left Pratteln - or at least tried to. Somehow Switzerland did not want us to leave as we were caught in a traffic jam in the city of Basel which took us about an hour. With that delay we hit the road to Eastern Germany. At around 2 o'clock in the morning we arrived at our hotel.

Saturday (28.05.2011):

After a short breakfast we started our ride to Dessau. We took a short break to buy some food and drinks and went into a record store in order to check out if our cd was available. And of course it was! Fortunately stage time in Dessau was in the evening and there was no need to hurry.

Nevertheless we continued to drive to Dessau and after some minutes we were already there. Impressed by the huge festival area we took the time we had to walk around, look for some shirts and make some promotion for our show by hanging up some poster and giving some flyer to the people.

In the afternoon we had a nice meal and at 6 pm our signing session started. Even tough right after us it was Saxon's turn to sign, there where many people interested in talking to us and getting some signed poster and autograph cards. Thanks to all of you who came to us!

Parallel to our signing session Misery Index played an awesome gig which we were able to see from the side. They really kicked ass!

Time went on very quickly and we ended the signing session after about one hour in order to start preparing for the show which should take place on the second stage in the tent.

Some minutes before we ought to be on stage we got the message that Onslaught, who should have been playing right after us, cancelled their show.

This was of course a sad fact but a good chance for us, because we were given the opportunity to start a bit later and play two more songs. So with some minutes delay we started our show. And something happened which we really did not expect: While playing our set the tent became more and more full and the people in front of the stage were going crazy as hell! It must have been at least 1,500 fans celebrating our music! That was an indescribable feeling to play a show in front of such a huge audience. Thanks to each and everyone who was there and supported us! You guys rule!

Filled with adrenaline we left the stage and if there had been the possibility we would played on the rest of the night! Past this successful show we put our equipment in our van and chatted a few words with the Secrets Of The Moon guys, who have been playing the Metalfest in Austria the day before. They told us that the weather down there was very rainy. We hoped that this would change until the next day.

The rest of the evening we spent with having a midnight snack and watching some Saxon. Then we started our trip to Bavaria. It was a pretty long night and at 6 in the morning we arrived at our hotel in Bad Griesbach.

Sunday (29.05.2011):

The "night" was rather short. After only about five hours of sleep we skipped the breakfast and started the day with some nice steaks and schnitzel. That gave us the strength to drive to the festival ground in Austria. And thankfully there was no rain - quite the contrary, the weather was wonderful.

Again due to Onslaught's cancellation our stagetime was delayed and so we took the time to check out the area and look for some merchandise.

In addition we watched some of the other bands. With enough time we prepared for our show which should take place on the tent stage. Inside of the tent there was an unimaginable heat and everyone was sweating like mad! But that did neither stop us from playing an awesome show nor our fans from giving us good feedback! Thank you guys for being with us in

sweat-filled ecstasy!

After the show we needed to cool down and what could help better than some tasty beers? Right, nothing! So we walked to the backstage catering tent and ate some delicious food and drank some cool beer. It was the first time during that weekend we did not have to travel on to another venue. So we could just relax, drink some beer and talk with some other bands. We were really sad that we had to travel back to our hotel, because we would have liked to stay there eternally. But the next day we had to drive back home. However none of us was tired so we partied a bit in one of our hotel rooms, drank some beer, watched some of the videos we made during the weekend and did some beer-can-rolling in the basement garage of the hotel.

Monday (30.05.2011):

Again we had a very short night which was not that bad, because we had to travel back home anyway. We packed in some breakfast from the bufffet and started the journey to Osnabrück. After a long way we arrive late in the evening.

All in all it really was a great weekend and an amazing experience for everyone of us. Thanks to all of our fans who came to our shows, supported us and went crazy!